Method and apparatus for connecting user terminals as a group and providing service including contents associated with the group

ABSTRACT

A connection service providing method includes outputting, by a first user terminal from among a plurality of user terminals, a connection request signal to at least one second user terminal among the plurality of user terminals through an inaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating a connection between the plurality of user terminals; and connecting the at least one second user terminal and the first user terminal as a group; and providing a connection service associated with the group on the first user terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. non-provisional application is a continuation application of,and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365(c) fromInternational Application PCT/KR2017/009303, which has an Internationalfiling date of Aug. 25, 2017, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

One or more example embodiments relate to a method, system, apparatus,and/or non-transitory computer readable record medium for connecting aplurality of user terminals as a group, and more particularly, to amethod, system, apparatus, and/or non-transitory computer readablerecord medium for connecting a plurality of user terminals as a groupand providing a service including content associated with the group toeach of the user terminals.

2. Related Art

Currently, there is an increasing interest in technology forinterconnecting a plurality of electronic devices, such as userterminals, and sharing content or transmitting and receiving messagesbetween the interconnected electronic devices. Such connection betweenthe plurality of electronic devices may be performed through pairing bywireless communication such as Bluetooth, or may be performed bytransmitting a request message from a specific electronic device toanother electronic device to be connected and by receiving an approvalfrom the other electronic device receiving the request message. If anumber of electronic devices to be connected is at least hundreds (orthousands, tens of thousands), the method of interconnecting electronicdevices may not quickly perform a connection between the hundreds, ormore, of electronic devices.

Also, if a connection between electronic devices is performed in a noisyand crowded place, it is difficult for users to transmit and receive arequest message for the connection between electronic devices.Therefore, the connection between the electronic devices may not beefficiently performed.

Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that may quicklyand conveniently perform a connection between hundreds of or moreelectronic devices and may complete a connection between electronicdevices without being limited to a place where the connection betweenthe electronic devices is performed.

A method of retrieving a near field wireless device through a mobileterminal, simply pairing the retrieved wireless device, and displaying awireless device having a priority in an upper portion of a display areais described in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2009-0066102(published on Jun. 23, 2009).

The aforementioned information is provided to assist understanding andmay include content that is not a portion of the related art and may notinclude content providable to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

According to at least some example embodiments, a connection serviceproviding method includes outputting, by a first user terminal fromamong a plurality of user terminals, a connection request signal to atleast one second user terminal among the plurality of user terminalsthrough an inaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal forinitiating a connection between the plurality of user terminals;connecting the at least one second user terminal and the first userterminal as a group; and providing a connection service associated withthe group on the first user terminal.

The connection request signal may include information used for thesecond user terminal to output a connection request signal to at leastone third user terminal to connect the at least one third user terminalamong the plurality of user terminals as the group.

The trigger signal may be a signal that is acquired by the first userterminal in response to joining a first chatroom of a messenger programinstalled on the first user terminal, a signal that is received from anoutside through the inaudible frequency range, or data that is acquiredby identifying a first code.

User terminals belonging to the group may be synchronized based on timeinformation of the respective user terminals, and the connection servicemay include content provided for at least a portion of the synchronizeduser terminals.

The method may further include acquiring position information about aposition of the first user terminal, wherein the connection serviceincludes content associated with the position information.

The position information may be acquired through the inaudible frequencyrange at the position, or acquired by identifying a first code presentat the position.

The connection service may be configured to provide a screen outputcorresponding to position information about a position of each userterminal of at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to thegroup to said each user terminal, and the screen output of said eachuser terminal belonging to the group configures a portion of a semanticentity that is formed by screen outputs of a plurality of user terminalsamong the user terminals belonging to the group.

The connection service may include at least one content among the sametext output, the same audio output, and the same screen output providedto at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group.

The connection service may include content including the same audioprovided to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to thegroup, and wherein the audio is automatically output to at least aportion of the user terminals at a first timing.

At least one of user terminals belonging to the group may be determinedas a winning terminal, and in response to the first user terminal beingdetermined as the winning terminal, content including a video or animage captured by the first user terminal may be provided as theconnection service to at least a portion of the user terminals belongingto the group.

The method may further include transmitting the captured video or imageto an external display device or a server that manages the externaldisplay device to display the captured video or image on the externaldisplay device.

The connection service may include a composite image or a compositevideo provided to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to thegroup, and wherein the composite video or the composite image isgenerated by composing images or videos captured by user terminalspresent at a first position among the user terminals belonging to thegroup.

The method may further include, in response to the first user terminalbeing determined to be present at the first position based on positioninformation about a position of the first user terminal, transmitting animage or a video captured by the first user terminal to a server; andreceiving content comprising the composite video or the composite imageas from the server.

The composite video or the composite image may be content to which athree-dimensional (3D) effect or a dynamic effect is applied.

In response to a user terminal of a user having a personal relationshipwith a user of the first user terminal being included in user terminalsbelonging to the group, the connection service includes contentincluding information about the user having the personal relationship.

The method may further include transmitting time information andposition information associated with the first user terminal to a serverthat provides the connection service, wherein the providing of theconnection service includes, receiving information about first contentand information about an output time of the content from the server; andoutputting the first content at a time that is determined based oninformation about the output time.

The outputting of the first content may include searching the first userterminal for the first content based on information about the firstcontent and outputting the first content, and in response to the firstcontent being absent in the first user terminal, requesting the serverfor the first content and outputting the first content received from theserver.

The time information may include information about a global positioningsystem (GPS) time and a local time of the first user terminal at a timeat which corresponding time information is acquired, the informationabout the output time includes a first output time at which the contentis to be output, and the outputting of the first content includesoutputting the first content at a time that is determined based onoffset time information calculated based on the local time of the firstuser terminal, the first output time, and the time information.

The offset time information may be a difference between the GPS time andthe local time of the first user terminal at the time at which the timeinformation is acquired, and the outputting of the first content mayinclude outputting the content at the local time of the first userterminal corresponding to a corrected output time that is determinedbased on the first output time and the offset time information.

The outputting of the first content may include shifting and outputtingthe content by an elapse time if the local time of the user terminalpasses the corrected output time.

According to at least some example embodiments, a non-transitorycomputer-readable record medium stores computer instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform the connectionservice providing method.

According to at least some example embodiments, a first electronicdevice includes processing circuitry configured to output a connectionrequest signal to at least a second electronic device through aninaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating aconnection between a plurality of electronic devices, the plurality ofdevices including the first and second electronic device, connect thesecond electronic device and the first electronic device as a group, andprovide a connection service associated with the group on the firstelectronic device.

The processing circuitry may be further configured to acquire positioninformation about a position of the electronic device.

According to at least some example embodiments, a connection serviceproviding method may include identifying, by a server, that a first userterminal and a second user terminal are connected as a group in responseto a connection request signal that is output from the first userterminal to at least one second user terminal through an inaudiblefrequency range; and providing a connection service associated with thegroup to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group.

The method may further include receiving time information and positioninformation associated with each user terminal from each of the firstuser terminal and the second user terminal, wherein the providing of theconnection service includes, determining information about first contentto be output from user terminals belonging to the group and informationabout an output time at which the first content is to be output, basedon the received position information and time information; andtransmitting the determined information about the first content andinformation about the output time to at least a portion of the userterminals belonging to the group.

The determining may include determining information about content to beoutput from each of the user terminals belonging to the group based onposition information received from each of one or more user terminalsfrom among the user terminals belonging to the group; and determiningoffset time information associated with one or more user terminals fromamong the user terminals belonging to the group based on timeinformation received from user terminals belonging to the group, theoffset time information associated with each of the user terminalsbelonging to the group being a difference between a global positionsystem (GPS) time and a local time indicated by time information of eachcorresponding user terminal.

The method may include mapping each received position information to animage associated with a place where a connection as the group isperformed.

According to at least some example embodiments, a server that provides aconnection service includes processing circuitry configured to receive asignal from at least one user terminal among a plurality of userterminals identify, based on the received signal, that a first userterminal and a second user terminal are connected as a group based on aconnection request signal that is output from the first user terminal toat least the second user terminal through an inaudible frequency range,and provide a connection service associated with the group to at least aportion of user terminals belonging to the group.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of example embodiments ofthe inventive concepts will become more apparent by describing in detailexample embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. Theaccompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments andshould not be interpreted to limit the intended scope of the claims. Theaccompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unlessexplicitly noted.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a method of connecting a plurality ofuser terminals as a group and providing a connection service to the userterminals according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a user terminal configured to connectto another user terminal as a group and a connection service providingserver configured to provide a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of connectingto another user terminal as a group and providing a connection serviceto be displayed on a user terminal from the perspective of the userterminal according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providinga connection service to at least a portion of (or each of) userterminals connected as a group from the perspective of a connectionservice providing server according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providingcontent associated with position information of a user terminal to bedisplayed on the user terminal as a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providing aconnection service associated with a video or an image acquired from awinning terminal to be displayed on a user terminal according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providingcontent including a composite video and/or composite image to bedisplayed on a user terminal as a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of displaying a video or an image acquiredfrom a winning terminal on a user terminal as a connection serviceaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of providing content including the sametext and/or the same audio to at least a portion of or each of userterminals connected as a group as a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of providing content associated withposition information of a user terminal belonging to a group on a userterminal as a connection service according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of providing content includinginformation about a user having a personal relationship with a user of auser terminal on the user terminal as a connection service according toan example embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of acquiring a trigger signal forinitiating a connection between a plurality of user terminals and/orposition information about a position of a user terminal according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of providing content including acomposite video and/or a composite image on a user terminal as aconnection service according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a method of providing a connectionservice from a connection service providing server to a user terminalbased on space information and time information acquired from the userterminal according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method ofproviding a connection service from a connection service providingserver to a user terminal based on space information and timeinformation acquired from the user terminal according to an exampleembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more example embodiments will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments, however,may be embodied in various different forms, and should not be construedas being limited to only the illustrated embodiments. Rather, theillustrated embodiments are provided as examples so that this disclosurewill be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concepts ofthis disclosure to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, knownprocesses, elements, and techniques, may not be described with respectto some example embodiments. Unless otherwise noted, like referencecharacters denote like elements throughout the attached drawings andwritten description, and thus descriptions will not be repeated.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups, thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted products. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding alist of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modifythe individual elements of the list. Also, the term “exemplary” isintended to refer to an example or illustration.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. Terms,such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should beinterpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning inthe context of the relevant art and/or this disclosure, and should notbe interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expresslyso defined herein.

Software may include a computer program, program code, instructions, orsome combination thereof, for independently or collectively instructingor configuring a hardware device to operate as desired. The computerprogram and/or program code may include program or computer-readableinstructions, software components, software modules, data files, datastructures, and/or the like, capable of being implemented by one or morehardware devices, such as one or more of the hardware devices mentionedabove. Examples of program code include both machine code produced by acompiler and higher level program code that is executed using aninterpreter.

A hardware device, such as a computer processing device, may run anoperating system (OS) and one or more software applications that run onthe OS. The computer processing device also may access, store,manipulate, process, and create data in response to execution of thesoftware. For simplicity, one or more example embodiments may beexemplified as one computer processing device; however, one skilled inthe art will appreciate that a hardware device may include multipleprocessing elements and multiple types of processing elements. Forexample, a hardware device may include multiple processors or aprocessor and a controller. In addition, other processing configurationsare possible, such as parallel processors.

Although described with reference to specific examples and drawings,modifications, additions and substitutions of example embodiments may bevariously made according to the description by those of ordinary skillin the art. For example, the described techniques may be performed in anorder different with that of the methods described, and/or componentssuch as the described system, architecture, devices, circuit, and thelike, may be connected or combined to be different from theabove-described methods, or results may be appropriately achieved byother components or equivalents.

Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

The term “service” provided on (interchangeably used with provided to bedisplayed on and displayed on) a user terminal may refer to any type ofcontent, for example, content including at least one of a text, anaudio, and an image, output on the user terminal or data including thecontent.

The expression “providing a service to a user terminal” relates toproviding a service on a user terminal, for example, outputting ordisplaying a service or content through a display or a speaker of theuser terminal, and providing a service to a user of the user terminal.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a method of connecting a plurality ofuser terminals as a group and providing a connection service to the userterminals according to an example embodiment.

Hereinafter, a method of interconnecting a plurality of user terminalsas a group 120 and providing a connection service from a connectionservice providing server 130 to at least a portion of (or each of) userterminals belonging to the group 120 is described with reference toFIG. 1. Each of the user terminals belonging to the group 120 may be,for example, a smartphone as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, each of user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . ,belonging to the group 120 may refer to an electronic devicecontrollable by a user and may be configured to transmit and receive aconnection request signal for connecting the user terminals 110, 110-1,110-2, . . . , as the group 120.

Referring to FIG. 1, a connection between the user terminals 110, 110-1,110-2, . . . , may start from the user terminal 110 that acquires atrigger signal for initiating the connection between the plurality ofuser terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . . Although FIG. 1 illustratesthat the user terminal 110 acquires the trigger signal, at least one ofthe user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . may acquire the triggersignal.

The user terminal 110 that acquires the trigger signal may output theconnection request signal to at least one another user terminal, forexample, the user terminal 110-1, among the plurality of user terminals110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . through an inaudible frequency range. The otheruser terminal 110-1 and the user terminal 110 may be connected as thegroup 120. The other user terminal 110-1 may be present within arrivalrange of the connection request signal output from the user terminal110. Although FIG. 1 illustrates that a single other user terminal 110-1receives the connection request signal from the user terminal 110, aplurality of other user terminals 110-1 may be present.

The connection request signal may be a sound signal that is transmittedthrough the inaudible frequency range. The inaudible frequency range maybe a frequency range in which the user cannot hear sound. A signaltransmitted through the inaudible frequency range does not interferewith a signal transmitted through a frequency range in which a user canhear sound. Therefore, the connection between the user terminals 110,110-1, 110-2, . . . may be performed regardless of noise and crowdednessof a place whether the connection is performed.

The connection request signal may be output through a speaker includedin a corresponding user terminal and may be received through amicrophone included in the user terminal.

The other user terminal 110-1 may receive the connection request signaland may output the connection request signal to still another userterminal 110-2. Still another user terminal 110-2 present withincoverage of the connection request signal output from the other userterminal 110-1 may be connected to the user terminals 110 and 110-1 asthe group 120.

That is, the connection request signal output from the user terminal 110may include information used for the other user terminal 110-1 to outputthe connection request signal to still another user terminal 110-2 toconnect still another user terminal 110-2 among the plurality of userterminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . , as the group 120.

Meanwhile, still another user terminal 110-2 may also output theconnection request signal and the user terminal(s) present withincoverage of the connection request signal output from still another userterminal 110-2 may be connected as the group 120. Accordingly, theentire user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . may be concatenated asthe group 120.

Output of the connection request signal by the user terminal 110-1 or110-2 may be performed substantially or almost at the same time at whichthe connection request signal is received at the corresponding userterminal 110-1 or 110-2.

Accordingly, connection with respect to the entire user terminals 110,110-1, 110-2, . . . may be performed substantially or nearly at the sametime or within a short period of time.

The connection service providing server 130 may provide a connectionservice to at least a portion of (or each of) the user terminals 110,110-1, 110-2, . . . belonging to the group 120, and the connectionservice may be output to each of at least a portion of the userterminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . belonging to the group 120. Here, theprovided connection service may include content associated with thegroup 120.

The user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . may be positioned in acrowded and noisy place, such as, for example, a sports venue or aperformance venue. That is, the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . .may correspond to user terminals owned by audiences of the sports venueor the performance venue. The connection service provided to at least aportion of (or each of) the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . mayinclude content associated with an event of the sports venue or theperformance venue in which the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . .are present. Therefore, users of the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, .. . may further enjoy the event through the provided connection service.

A connection method by transmitting and receiving a connection requestsignal between the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . and aconnection service provided to at least a portion of or each of the userterminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . are further described with referenceto FIGS. 2 to 12.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a user terminal configured to connectto another user terminal as a group and a connection service providingserver configured to provide a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a structure of the user terminal 110 and theconnection service providing server 130. The following descriptionrelated to the structure of the user terminal 110 may apply to astructure of the user terminals 110-1, 110-2, . . . and furtherdescription is omitted.

The user terminal 110 refers to an electronic device configured totransmit and receive a connection request signal for a connection withanother user terminal and to receive a connection service from theconnection service providing server 130 and to output the connectionservice. For example, the user terminal 110 may be a terminal used by auser, such as a smartphone, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer,a tablet, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, and a wearable computer.The user terminal 110 may be configured to acquire or receive a triggersignal for initiating a connection between a plurality of userterminals.

Referring to FIG. 2, the user terminal 110 may include a communicator210, a controller 220, a display 230, a camera 240, a speaker 250, and amicrophone 260.

The communicator 210 may be a device used for a communication betweenthe user terminal 110 and a server or another user terminal. That is,the communicator 210 may be a hardware module, for example, a networkinterface card, a network interface chip, a networking interface port,etc., of the user terminal 110 or a software module, for example, anetwork device driver and a networking program, configured to transmitand receive data and/or information to and from the server or the otheruser terminal.

The controller 220 may manage components of the user terminal 110 andmay execute a program or an application used by the user terminal 110.For example, the controller 220 may transmit and receive a connectionrequest signal by generating and/or forwarding the connection requestsignal, and may control the user terminal 110 to connect to the otheruser terminal and may control the user terminal 110 to output aconnection service provided from the connection service providing server130 through the display 230.

The controller 220 may execute a program or an application required forconnection to the other user terminal and output of the connectionservice, and may process an operation required to execute the program orthe application and to process data. Also, the controller 220 may beconfigured to process data received from the server and the other userterminal. Also, the controller 220 may be at least one processor of theuser terminal 110 or may be at least one core included in the processor.

The controller 220 may include a signal transceiver 222 configured totransmit and receive the connection request signal and to acquire thetrigger signal, a group generator 224 configured to connect to anotheruser terminal as a group, a connection service provider 226 configuredto provide (output, display) a connection service through the display230, and a position information acquirer 228 configured to acquireposition information about a position of the user terminal 110.

In response to the trigger signal for initiating the connection betweenthe plurality of user terminals (electronic devices), the signaltransceiver 222 may output the connection request signal to at least oneanother user terminal among the plurality of user terminals through aninaudible frequency range.

The group generator 224 may connect the other user terminal receivingthe connection request signal to the user terminal 110 as a group. Theconnection with the other user terminal by the group generator 224 maybe performed in response to an agreement from the other user terminalreceiving the connection request signal on the connection. For example,a message asking whether to agree with the connection may be displayedthrough a popup window on a display of the other user terminal thatreceives the connection request signal.

The connection service provider 226 may provide the connection serviceassociated with the group to be displayed on the user terminal 110. Theconnection service may be received from the connection service providingserver 130 through the communicator 210, and may be displayed on thedisplay 230 under control of the connection service provider 226.

The position information acquirer 228 may acquire position informationabout the position of the user terminal 110. The position informationacquirer 228 may acquire the position information based on data acquiredby a sensor or another configuration of the user terminal 110 inassociation with the position of the user terminal 110. For example, theposition information acquirer 228 may acquire the position informationfrom data acquired from a global positioning system (GPS) module (notshown), data about a code identified by the camera 240, or a signalinput through the microphone 260.

Further description related to functions and operations of components,for example, the signal transceiver 222, the group generator 224, theconnection service provider 226, and the position information acquirer228, of the controller 220 is further described with reference to FIGS.3 to 12. The aforementioned components, for example, the signaltransceiver 222, the group generator 224, the connection serviceprovider 226, and the position information acquirer 228, of thecontroller 220 may be configured in at least one processor and thus,functions and operations thereof may be executed by the at least oneprocessor.

Further, according to at least some example embodiments, the controller220 may be or include processing circuitry such as hardware includinglogic circuits; a hardware/software combination executing software; or acombination thereof. For example, the processing circuitry morespecifically may include, but is not limited to, a central processingunit (CPU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor,a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), andprogrammable logic unit, a microprocessor, application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), etc. According to at least some exampleembodiments, the hardware and/or hardware/software combination of theaforementioned processing circuitry is configured to perform or controlall operations discussed in the present disclosure as being performed bythe user terminal 110, the controller 220, or any element of the userterminal 110 or controller 220.

The display 230 may display data input from the user of the userterminal 110 or may display content included in the connection servicereceived from the connection service providing server 130. For example,the display 230 may include a touchscreen. In this case, the display 230may include a function of an input device configured to receive asetting and a request from the user.

The camera 240 may be a device configured to capture an object. Thecamera 240 may include an image sensor configured to generate a video oran image by capturing the object.

The speaker 250 may be a device configured to output an audio signal,such as an audio. For example, the speaker 250 may output an audio theuser can hear and a sound signal of an inaudible frequency range theuser cannot hear. The sound signal of the inaudible frequency range maybe used as the connection request signal. That is, the connectionrequest signal generated by the signal transceiver 222 may be output tothe other user terminal through the speaker 250.

The microphone 260 may be a device configured to receive an audiosignal, such as an audio. Also, the microphone 260 may receive an audiosignal of an inaudible frequency range from a speaker of the other userterminal. That is, the microphone 260 may receive the connection requestsignal from the other user terminal, or may receive the audio signal ofthe inaudible frequency range as a trigger signal.

The inaudible frequency range may be, for example, a high frequency bandof over 20 kHz. Also, the inaudible frequency range may include afrequency (e.g., a frequency of between 10 kHz and 20 kHz modulatedusing a quadrature-orthogonal keying (QOK) modulation method) of soundsubstantially unrecognizable by a human. That is, an inaudible frequencymay be a frequency in contrast to an audible frequency or a frequency ofsound a human can hear but cannot perceive with ears. In the exampleembodiment, the term “inaudible frequency band” may refer to a frequencyband that allows transmission and reception of a signal through themicrophone 260 and the speaker 250, instead of using an antenna used forwireless communication.

A sound signal of the inaudible frequency range may be input and outputthrough a separate signal receiving device and output device.

Also, although not illustrated, the user terminal 110 may include astorage as a device configured to store data or information. The storagemay include any type of memory or storage device. The storage may storea program or an application executed by the controller 220 andinformation related thereto. For example, the storage may store a videoand an image captured by the camera 240 and content including aconnection service that is provided from the connection serviceproviding server 130.

The connection service providing server 130 (hereinafter, referred to asthe server 130) may generate and provide the connection service to atleast a portion of (or each of) user terminals belonging to the group.The server 130 may generate and provide the connection service inresponse to a request from a specific user terminal among the userterminals belonging to the group.

The server 130 may include a communicator 270 and a controller 280.

The communicator 270 may refer to a device for communication between theserver 130 and another server or user terminal(s). That is, thecommunicator 270 may be a hardware module, such as, for example, anetwork interface card, a network interface chip, a networking interfaceport, etc., of the server 130 or a software module, such as, forexample, a network device driver or a networking program, configured totransmit and receive data and/or information to and from the otherserver or user terminal(s).

The controller 280 may manage any or all components of the server 130and may execute a program or an application used by the server 130.Also, the server 130 may process an operation required to execute theprogram or the application and to process data. Also, the controller 280may be configured to process data received from the other server anduser terminal(s). The controller 280 may be at least one processor ofthe server 130 or at least one core in the processor.

The controller 280 may include a connection service provider 282configured to generate a connection service to be provided to the userterminals belonging to the group and to provide the connection serviceto at least a portion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging tothe group through the communicator 270.

In response to a connection request signal output from a first userterminal (e.g., the user terminal 110) receiving the trigger signal toat least one second user terminal (the other user terminal) through theinaudible frequency range, the connection service provider 282 mayidentify that the first user terminal and the second user terminal areconnected as a group and may provide the connection service associatedwith the group to at least a portion of (or each of) the user terminalsbelonging to the group.

Based on a signal received from at least one of the plurality of userterminals belonging to the group by the communicator 270, the controller280 may identify that the corresponding plurality of user terminals isconnected as the group.

Further, according to at least some example embodiments, the controller280 may be or include processing circuitry such as hardware includinglogic circuits; a hardware/software combination executing software; or acombination thereof. For example, the processing circuitry morespecifically may include, but is not limited to, a central processingunit (CPU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor,a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), andprogrammable logic unit, a microprocessor, application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), etc. According to at least some exampleembodiments, the hardware and/or hardware/software combination of theaforementioned processing circuitry is configured to perform or controlany or all operations discussed in the present disclosure as beingperformed by the server 130, the controller 280, or any element of theserver 130 or controller 280.

A method of connecting user terminals as a group by transmitting andreceiving a connection request signal between the user terminals and amethod of generating and providing a connection service for each of theuser terminals are further described with reference to FIG. 3A to 12.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIG. 1 may apply to FIG. 2 and further description related thereto isomitted.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of connectingto another user terminal as a group and providing a connection serviceto be displayed on a user terminal from the perspective of the userterminal according to an example embodiment. FIG. 3B is a flowchartillustrating an example of a method of providing a connection service toat least a portion of (or each of) user terminals connected as a groupfrom the perspective of a connection service providing server accordingto an example embodiment.

In the following, example embodiments are described based on the userterminal 110 (e.g., a first user terminal) among user terminals (e.g.,the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . ) connected as a group andfurther description related to other user terminals (e.g., second userterminal(s) and third user terminal(s)) excluding the user terminal 110from the group is omitted. Also, in the following, some operations ofthe user terminal 110 performed by a component of the controller 220 aredescribed to be performed by the user terminal 110, for clarity ofdescription.

Referring to FIG. 3A, in operation 310, the signal transceiver 222 mayacquire a trigger signal for initiating a connection between a pluralityof user terminals.

In operation 320, in response to the acquired trigger signal, the signaltransceiver 222 may output a connection request signal to at least oneanother user terminal among the plurality of user terminals through aninaudible frequency range.

In operation 330, the group generator 224 may connect the other userterminal (second user terminal(s)) receiving the connection requestsignal and the user terminal 110 as a group. The group generator 224 mayreceive a response of an agreement from the other user terminal thatreceives the connection request signal and may perform the connection.

In operation 340, the connection service provider 226 may provide aconnection service associated with the group on the display 230 of theuser terminal 110.

The connection request signal may include information used for the otheruser terminal (second user terminal(s)) receiving the connection requestsignal to output the connection request signal to still another userterminal (third user terminal(s)) to connect, as the group, at least onestill another user terminal (third user terminal(s)) among the pluralityof user terminals that is to be connected as the group. Therefore,although the connection request signal is output only once from the userterminal 110 that acquires the trigger signal, a connection between theuser terminals may be performed in a concatenated manner.

The trigger signal refers to a signal for initiating the connectionbetween the plurality of user terminals and may be a signal that causesthe user terminal 110 receiving the trigger signal to initially outputthe connection request signal.

The trigger signal may be a signal acquired by the user terminal 110 inresponse to joining a desired chatroom of a messenger program installedon the user terminal 110. For example, if the connection is performed ina sports venue or a performance venue, the user terminal 110 may acquirethe trigger signal when the user terminal 110 joins a chatroomassociated with an event occurring in the sports venue or theperformance venue using the messenger program.

Alternatively, the trigger signal may refer to a signal received from anoutside through the inaudible frequency range. For example, the triggersignal may be output from a thing (e.g., a speaker installed at anyposition of the sports venue or the performance venue) present in aplace where the connection is performed, and the signal transceiver 222may acquire the trigger signal by receiving the trigger signal throughthe microphone 260.

Alternatively, the trigger signal may refer to data acquired byidentifying a predetermined (or, alternatively, desired) code. Forexample, the signal transceiver 222 may acquire the trigger signal byreading a code marked on a thing (e.g., a seat installed at any positionof the sports venue or the performance venue) present in a place wherethe connection is performed through the camera 240. The code may be, forexample, a barcode, a quick read (QR) code, or other identificationcodes, such as a seat number.

In the case of generating a group by connecting a plurality of userterminals, a plurality of user terminals may acquire the trigger signal.For example, the plurality of user terminals may join the chatroom, mayreceive a signal received through the inaudible frequency range, or mayread a predetermined (or, alternatively, desired) code. Here, theconnection between the plurality of user terminals may start from eachof the plurality of user terminals acquiring the trigger signal. In thiscase, connecting the entire user terminals as the group may be furtherquickly performed.

Also, the trigger signal may include information used to classify theplurality of user terminals into two or more groups and to connect theclassified user terminals. For example, when the user terminal 110acquires a trigger signal including information used to connect userterminals as a first group, the user terminals connected by receiving aconnection request signal output from the user terminal 110 may belongto the first group. Alternatively, when the user terminal 110 acquires atrigger signal including information used to connect user terminals as asecond group, the user terminals connected by receiving a connectionrequest signal output from the user terminal 110 may belong to thesecond group.

For example, assuming that a connection is performed in a sports venuein which a game between teams A and B is played, a connection requestsignal for connecting user terminals as a group associated with the teamA in response to an access of the user terminal 110 to a chatroomassociated with the team A may be output from the user terminal 110.Likewise, a connection request signal for connecting user terminals as agroup associated with the team B in response to an access of the userterminal 110 to a chatroom associated with the team B may be output fromthe user terminal 110. Alternatively, in response to the user terminal110 receiving a trigger signal output from a speaker at the team A'sside of the sports venue or reading a code at the team A's side, theconnection request signal for connecting the user terminals as the groupassociated with the team A may be output from the user terminal 110. Theaforementioned description may apply to the team B and furtherdescription is omitted. Therefore, the user of the user terminal 110 maybelong to a group associated with a team the user desires to cheer andmay receive a connection service associated with the corresponding team.

Describing providing of a connection service from the perspective of theconnection service providing server 130, the connection service provider282 of the server 130 may identify that the first user terminal and thesecond user terminal are connected as the group in response to theconnection request signal output from the first user terminal(corresponding to the user terminal 110) receiving the trigger signal toat least one second user terminal (corresponding to the other userterminal) through the inaudible frequency range in operation 350. Forexample, the server 130 may identify that a corresponding plurality ofuser terminals is connected as a group based on a signal received fromat least one of the plurality of user terminals belonging to the groupthrough the communicator 270.

The connection service provider 282 may identify that the plurality ofuser terminals is connected as the group and, if a plurality of groupsis present, may identify a group to which corresponding user terminalsbelong. The connection service provider 282 may identify user terminalsconnected as a specific group and may provide a connection servicesuitable for the specific group. That is, without identifying userterminals belonging to a group belonged to by a corresponding userterminal, a suitable connection service may be provided to at least aportion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging to the group.

In operation 360, the connection service provider 282 may provide aconnection service associated with the group to at least a portion of(or each of) the user terminals belonging to the identified group. Forexample, the connection service provided from the connection serviceprovider 282 to at least a portion of or each of the user terminalsbelonging to the group as well as the user terminal 110 may include atleast one content among the same text output, the same audio output, andthe same screen output. For example, by outputting the same text, thesame audio, or the same screen to hundreds of (depending on a connectionplace, thousands or tens of thousands of) or more user terminals, usersof the user terminals belonging to the group may have a sense ofhomogeneity and a cheering effect may be enhanced in a place, such as asports venue. “Screen output” may include outputting, that is,displaying a predetermined (or, alternatively desired) color on thedisplay 230 or displaying a color of which saturation or brightness ischanged from the color on the display 230, instead of simply outputting,that is, displaying an image file.

The user terminals belonging to the same group through the connectionmay be synchronized based on time information of each of the userterminals. The time information may include, for example, GPS timeinformation. Therefore, the connection service may include contentprovided to at least a portion of (or each of) the synchronized userterminals.

For example, the connection service may include content including thesame audio (or audio linked between the user terminals) provided to atleast a portion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging to thegroup. The audio may be automatically output to at least a portion of(or each of) the user terminals at a desired timing. The timing may be atime preset by the connection service provider 282 or the user terminal110. Alternatively, the timing may be a timing at which a specific eventoccurs in a place where the connection between the user terminals isperformed, for example, a homerun occurrence timing in a baseballstadium and a goal occurrence timing in a soccer field.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2 may apply to FIGS. 3A and 3B and further descriptionrelated thereto is omitted.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providingcontent associated with position information of a user terminal to bedisplayed on the user terminal as a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, in operation 410, the position information acquirer228 may acquire position information about a position of the userterminal 110. The position information acquirer 228 may acquire theposition information from data acquired from a GPS module (not shown) ofthe user terminal 110, data about a code identified by the camera 240,or a signal input through the microphone 260.

For example, the position information may be acquired through aninaudible frequency range from the position of the user terminal 110 ormay be acquired by identifying a predetermined (or, alternatively,desired) code present at the position.

The position of the user terminal 110 may be a place where userterminals is connected as a group. For example, the position informationacquirer 228 may acquire position information about a correspondingplace by reading a code marked on a thing (e.g., a thing (a seat)installed at any position of a sports venue or a performance venue)present in a place where such a connection is performed through thecamera 240. The code may be, for example, a barcode, a QR code, or anyother identification codes. Alternatively, the position informationacquirer 228 may acquire the position information that is output from athing (e.g., a speaker installed at a position of the sports venue orthe performance venue) present in the place where the connection isperformed and is received by the position information acquirer 228through the microphone 260. Here, the position information acquired bythe position information acquirer 228 may include information indicatinga position at which the user terminal 110 is present in the place wherethe connection is performed. For example, the position information mayinclude information indicating a position of the seat at which the userterminal 110 is present.

In operation 340′, the connection service provider 226 may provide aconnection service including content associated with the acquiredposition information to be displayed on the user terminal 110. Theconnection service may be provided from the connection service provider282. The content associated with the position information refers tocontent associated with the position of the user terminal 110 in theplace where the connection is performed. For example, when the positionof the user terminal 110 is a seat for cheering a specific team or aspecific performer, the content associated with the position informationmay include at least one of a text, an image, and an audio for cheeringthe specific team or the specific performer. The image may include animage or a video captured by the user terminal 110 or the camera 240.

Alternatively, the content associated with the position information maybe, as an image, a portion corresponding to position information of asemantic object formed by images provide from a plurality of userterminals among the user terminal belonging to the group. for example,the content associated with the position information may include animage constituting a portion of a card section. Here, the image may bedisplayed on the display 230 with color/saturation and brightness of thecolor corresponding to the portion of the card section.

A method of providing content associated with position information as aconnection service is further described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 9.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 3B may apply to FIG. 4 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providing aconnection service associated with a video or an image acquired from awinning terminal to be displayed on a user terminal according to anexample embodiment.

Hereinafter, a method of determining a winning terminal among userterminals belonging to a group and providing a connection serviceincluding a video or an image associated with the winning terminal to atleast a portion of (or each of) the user terminals is described withreference to FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 5, in operation 510, the connection service provider282 (or, a determiner of an external device) may determine a winningterminal among user terminals belonging to a group. Determining thewinning terminal may be performed by any user terminal, or,alternatively, a predetermined user terminal, among the user terminalsbelonging to the group.

If the user terminal 110 is determined as the winning terminal, the userterminal 110 may acquire a video or an image in operation 520. Forexample, the user terminal 110 may capture a video or an image of theuser of the user terminal 110 using the camera 240. Capturing may beautomatically performed when the user terminal 110 is determined as thewinning terminal.

In operation 530, the user terminal 110 may transmit the acquired videoor image to an external device. For example, the user terminal 110 maytransmit the captured video or image to an external display device or aserver, for example, the server 130, managing the external displaydevice to display the captured video or image on the external displaydevice (such as a billboard or a large screen).

In operation 540, the connection service provider 282 (or the externaldevice or the server managing the external server) may provide aconnection service associated with the video or the image acquired fromthe user terminal 110 corresponding to the winning terminal. That is,the video or the image acquired by the user terminal 110 determined asthe winning terminal may be provided as the connection service to atleast a portion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging to thegroup. Unless the user terminal 110 is the winning terminal, a videoacquired or captured by the winning terminal may be provided to the userterminal 110.

Example embodiments of proceeding with a winning event in a sports venueor a performance venue may be implemented through operations 510 to 540.That is, the example embodiments may be employed to select apredetermined (or, alternatively, desired) number of persons during aprogress of an event of selecting the number of persons from the crowdor the audience present in the sports venue or the performance venue andproviding a gift or a benefit to the selected number of persons.

An example embodiment of providing an image or a video acquired by awinning terminal to an external display device and at least a portion of(or each of) user terminals belonging to a group is further describedwith reference to FIG. 7.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 4 may apply to FIG. 5 and further description related theretois omitted.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of providingcontent including a composite video and/or composite image to bedisplayed on a user terminal as a connection service according to anexample embodiment.

A connection service provided to at least a portion of (or each of) userterminals belonging to a group may include a composite image or acomposite video. The composite video or the composite image may becontent to which a three-dimensional (3D) effect or a dynamic effect isapplied. For example, the composite video or the composite image may becontent represented in a similar manner to a moving picture.

The composite video may be generated by composing images or videos bycaptured by user terminals present at a desired position among userterminals belonging to a group. The following description is made basedon a method of generating a composite video or a composite imagedepending on whether the user terminal 110 is present at the position.

Referring to FIG. 6, in operation 610, the connection service provider282 may determine whether the user terminal 110 is present at apredetermined (or, alternatively, desired) position to generate acomposite video or a composite image. The predetermined (or,alternatively, desired) position may include positions suitable forvisually identifying a specific event occurring in a place where theconnection as the group is performed. For example, the position mayinclude seat positions suitable for visually identifying a goal in asoccer field. The position information of the user terminal 110described above with reference to FIG. 4 may be used for determining inoperation 610. Also, at least one of a position, a height, and an angleof the user terminal 110 may be additionally used as data acquired fromsensor(s) included in the user terminal 110.

Operation 610 may be performed by not the connection service provider282 but a component of the user terminal 110.

When the user terminal 110 is determined to be present at the position,the user terminal 110 may acquire a video or an image in operation 620.For example, the user terminal 110 may capture a specific eventoccurrence spot in the place where the connection as the group isperformed using the camera 240. Here, such capturing may be performed inresponse to a request from the user terminal 110 (user), that is, undercontrol of the user terminal 110, or may be performed at a predetermined(or, alternatively, desired) timing when the user terminal 110 isdetermined to be present at the position. The timing may be anoccurrence time of the specific event in the place where the connectionas the group is performed.

In operation 630, the user terminal 110 may transmit the acquired videoor image to a server configured to generate a composite video or acomposite image. Alternatively, the user terminal 110 may transmit theacquired video or image to an exclusive server or the server 130configured to generate the composite video or the composite image.

The exclusive server or the server 130 may generate the composite videoor the composite image based on videos or images received from the userterminal 110 and user terminals determined to be present at apredetermined (or, alternatively, desired) position. Known arts forgenerating a composite image/video having a 3D effect or a dynamiceffect using a plurality of images/videos may be used to generate thecomposite video or the composite image. Further description relatedthereto is omitted.

In operation 640, the connection service provider 282 (or, the exclusiveserver) may provide the composite video or the composite image to theuser terminal 110 and at least a portion of (or each of) the userterminals belonging to the group as the connection service. That is, theuser terminals including the user terminal 110 may receive contentincluding the composite video or the composite image as the connectionservice. If the user terminal 110 is not present at the predetermined(or, alternatively, desired) position, the generated composite video orcomposite image may be provided to the user terminal 110 as theconnection service without the aforementioned capturing operations.

Through operations 610 to 640, an image or a video related to a specificevent may be further realistically shared between user terminals inresponse to an occurrence of the specific event in a sports venue or aperformance venue.

A method of generating a composite video or a composite image and amethod of providing the generated composite video or composite image toat least a portion of (or each of) user terminals is further describedwith reference to FIG. 12.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 5 may apply to FIG. 6 and further description related theretois omitted.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of displaying a video or an image acquiredfrom a winning terminal on a user terminal as a connection serviceaccording to an example embodiment.

The example embodiment of FIG. 5 is further described with reference toFIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 7, the user terminal 110 is determined as a winningterminal in the connected group 120. The user terminal 110 may capture avideo or an image of the user of the user terminal 110 determined as thewinning terminal. Capturing may be automatically performed when the userterminal 110 is determined as the winning terminal or when the userterminal 110 agrees to be determined as the winning terminal. Otherwise,another user terminal may be determined as the winning terminal. Thatis, the aforementioned operation 510 may be performed again.

The captured image or video may be transmitted to a device (an externaldisplay device 700 or a server (not shown) configured to manage theexternal display device 700) associated with the external display device700 to display the captured image or video on the external displaydevice 700, for example, a billboard.

The captured image or video may be displayed on the external displaydevice 700 and may be displayed on all of the user terminals 110, 110-1,110-2, . . . , belonging to the group 120 as the connection service.

Therefore, an example embodiment of running a winning event in a sportsvenue or a performance venue may be implemented.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 6 may apply to FIG. 7 and further description related theretois omitted.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of providing, as a connection service,content including the same text and/or the same audio to at least aportion of (or each of) user terminals connected as a group according toan example embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 8, the same audio may be output to all of the userterminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . belonging to the connected group 120.For example, shout sound (shout1) may be provided to the user terminals110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . as a connection service.

Since the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . are synchronized basedon time information, the audio may be synchronized and thereby output tothe user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . .

The connection service provider 282 may synchronize and output differentaudio for the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . depending on atiming or a circumstance of a place where the connection as the group isperformed. That is, different audio (different shout) may be output tothe user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . based on the timing or thecircumstance of the place where the connection as the group isperformed. For example, in a sports venue, if a team related to thegroup 120 is advantageous, a cheering shout may be output from the userterminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . . On the contrary, if the teamrelated to the group 120 is disadvantageous, a hooting shout may beoutput from the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . .

Accordingly, a realistic cheering in a sports venue or a performancevenue is possible.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 8, a text, such as a cheering text, may besynchronized and thereby output to the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2,. . . . The aforementioned description may apply to output of the textand further description is omitted.

Further, although not illustrated, the same image (color) may besynchronized and thereby output to the user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2,. . . . For example, a color symbolizing a team (or a performer)associated with the group 120 may be synchronized and thereby output tothe user terminals 110, 110-1, 110-2, . . . . The aforementioneddescription related to output of the audio may apply to output of thesame screen and further description is omitted.

Alternatively, dissimilar to FIG. 8, not the same audio/text but contentincluding audio/text related between at least a portion of the userterminals may be provided to at least a portion of (or each of) the userterminals connected as the group.

The related audio may produce a predetermined (or, alternatively,desired) chord, or may form a predetermined (or, alternatively, desired)pattern or melody when the audio is output from a plurality ofterminals. The related text may be a text representing the same subject.Alternatively, the related text may be a text output in a differentdisplay form, for example, a different font and/or color even in thecase of the same text.

The aforementioned technical description may apply even to outputtingthe content including the related audio/text with respect to userterminals.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 7 may apply to FIG. 8 and further description related theretois omitted.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of displaying content associated withposition information of a user terminal belonging to a group on a userterminal as a connection service according to an example embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 9, a position of the user terminal 110 may correspondto a seat of a sports venue (or a performance venue) 900 and positioninformation may correspond to a seat position.

A connection service provided to user terminals belonging to a group maybe configured to provide a screen output corresponding to positioninformation of a user terminal belonging to the group to thecorresponding user terminal. For example, a screen output correspondingto a seat position corresponding to position information of the userterminal may be output to the corresponding user terminal as theconnection service.

Here, the screen output of the user terminal may constitute a portion ofa semantic object formed by the screen output of a plurality of userterminals among the user terminals belonging to the group. Here, thesemantic object is formed by the connection service provided to theplurality of user terminals among the user terminals included in thegroup. The entire connection service provided to the plurality of userterminals may have a certain meaning. For example, the semantic objectmay be a shape of a card section formed by audience in a sports venue ora performance venue.

Referring to FIG. 9, the crowd of the sports venue 900 forms a cardsection “Fighting! Korea” using their own user terminals. Here, positioninformation of the user terminal 110 may correspond to a seat positionB11. A screen output corresponding to the position information of theuser terminal 110 may be a left edge portion of alphabet F. Accordingly,a color of the alphabet F to be represented through the card section maybe displayed on the display 230 of the user terminal 110.

The connection service provider 282 may perform a card section of“Fighting! Korea” in the sports venue 900 by identifying a plurality ofuser terminals present at positions at which a text “Fighting! Korea” isformed from among user terminals of the crowd at the sports venue and byproviding a screen output corresponding to position information of eachof the identified plurality of terminals.

Accordingly, the crowd at the sports venue do not need to be speciallytrained or to have special equipment to perform the card section and mayeasily perform the card section simply using user terminals such assmartphones.

The text “Fighting! Korea” used for the card section may be determinedin advance by the connection service provider 282. Alternatively, thetext used for the card section may be determined by another externaldevice or a winning terminal among user terminals belonging to a group.

As described above, the card section may be provided to the userterminals belonging to the group at the aforementioned timing. Furtherdescription related thereto is omitted.

The technical description of FIG. 9 may similarly apply to outputtingthe content including the related audio/text with respect to userterminals, which is described above with reference to FIG. 7. Furtherdescription related thereto is omitted.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 8 may apply to FIG. 9 and further description related theretois omitted.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of providing content includinginformation about a user having a personal relationship with a user of auser terminal on the user terminal as a connection service according toan example embodiment.

Hereinafter, an example of a method of providing, as a connectionservice, content including information about a user having a personalrelationship with a user of the user terminal 110 is described withreference to FIG. 10.

The connection service provider 282 of the server 130 (or the connectionservice provider 226 of the user terminal 110) may determine whether theuser terminal of the user having the personal relationship with the userof the user terminal 110 is included in user terminals belonging to agroup.

Here, the personal relationship may represent a friend relation or anacquaintance between a user and another user in a social network service(SNS). Alternatively, the personal relationship may represent a relationwith another user registered to the user terminal, a friend relationwith another user in a messenger program or a game program installed onthe user terminal, and the like.

When the user terminal of the user having the personal relationship withthe user of the user terminal 110 is determined to be included in theuser terminals connected as the group, the connection service provider282 may provide, to the user terminal 110, the connection service thatincludes content including information about the user having thepersonal relationship.

Information about the user having the personal relationship may beprovided in a form of a list or a table. Information about the userhaving the personal relationship may include a name or an ID of a userdetermined to belong to the group and a position of the user. Theposition of the user may represent a position of the user in a placewhere a connection as a group is performed, such as, for example, aposition of a seat at which the user is present.

Although not illustrated, the position of the user having the personalrelationship may be provided as an image. For example, an image of asports venue or a performance venue may be displayed on the userterminal 110. Here, the image may be provided by marking a position or aseat of the corresponding venue at which the user having the personalrelationship is present.

In the example embodiment, another user having a personal relationshipwith the user in a crowded environment, such as the sports venue or theperformance venue, may be easily found. Also, if another user unnoticedby the user and having a personal relationship with the user amongusers, that is, the user terminals belonging to the group is present,the other user may be easily found.

If position information of the user having the personal information isnot acquirable (e.g., if the corresponding user does not acquireposition information about a seat using a user terminal of the user),the position information may not be included in information about theuser having the personal relationship.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 9 may apply to FIG. 10 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of acquiring a trigger signal forinitiating a connection between a plurality of user terminals and/orposition information about a position of a user terminal according to anexample embodiment.

Hereinafter, an example of acquiring the aforementioned trigger signaland/or position information is further described with reference to FIG.11. Referring to FIG. 11, the user terminal 110 may acquire the triggersignal and/or position information by identifying a code (e.g., abarcode, a QR code, and a seat number) present on a seat at a sportsvenue or a performance venue through a camera or by receiving the codefrom the user.

Also, the user terminal 110 may acquire the trigger signal and/orposition information by receiving a sound signal of an inaudiblefrequency range output from the seat or another position at the sportsvenue or the performance venue.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 10 may apply to FIG. 11 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of providing content including acomposite video and/or a composite image on a user terminal as aconnection service according to an example embodiment.

Hereinafter, an example of generating the composite video or thecomposite image of FIG. 6 is further described with reference to FIG.12.

Referring to FIG. 12, the connection service provider 282 may identifyuser terminals present at positions suitable for visually identifying agoal post of a soccer field from among user terminals belonging to thegroup 120. For example, user terminals of users present to the left andthe right of and behind the goal post may be determined to be present atsuitable positions, and images or videos captured by the user terminalsmay be used to a composite video or a composite image.

For example, the connection service provider 282 (or a server configuredto generate a composite video or a composite image) may acquire videosor images captured within a predetermined (or, alternatively, desired)period of time around a time at which a goal is made from among thevideos or the images captured by the user terminals determined to bepresent at the suitable positions, and may generate the composite videoor the composite image by combining the acquired videos or images.

The connection service provider 282 (or the exclusive server) mayprovide the generated composite video or composite image to at least aportion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging to the group 120 asthe connection service.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 11 may apply to FIG. 12 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a method of providing a connectionservice from a connection service providing server to a user terminalbased on space information and time information acquired from the userterminal according to an example embodiment.

Hereinafter, a method in which, in response to transmitting spaceinformation and time information associated with the user terminal 110acquired by the user terminal 110 being transmitted to the server 130,the server 130 determines information about content to be output to theuser terminal 110 and time information about a time at which the contentis to be output and transmits the determined information to the userterminal 110 is described with reference to FIG. 13.

The space information acquired from the user terminal 110 may correspondto position information associated with the user terminal 110. Also, thetime information acquired by the user terminal 110 may correspond to theaforementioned time information associated with the user terminal 110.

For example, the user terminal 110 may acquire geographical information,such as a latitude, a longitude, and a height of the user terminal 110acquired through a GPS and/or a sensor included in the user terminal 110and/or seat information of a sports venue or a performance venue asspace information (position information). The user terminal 110 maytransmit the acquired position information to the server 130.

The time information acquired by the user terminal 110 may includeinformation about a GPS time and a local time output from the userterminal 110 as the time information associated with the user terminal110. For example, the time information may represent a differencebetween the local time and the GPS time. The user terminal 110 maytransmit the acquired time information to the server 130.

The server 130 may acquire, for example, information about a groupconnection place from a database (e.g., a layout database (DB) 1340).Place information may be an image including seat information as an imageassociated with a corresponding place, for example, the sports venue orthe performance venue. The layout DB 1340 may be an internalconfiguration of the server 130 or a separate device present outside theserver 130.

A draw screen mapper 1310 of the server 130 may map the user terminal110 at a position corresponding to position information of the userterminal 110 in an image associated with the place based on the positioninformation acquired from the user terminal 110. For example, the drawscreen mapper 1310 may map the user terminal 110 at a position of animage corresponding to the seat represented by the position informationof the user terminal 110. The aforementioned mapping may relate tomapping the user terminal 110 to a pixel of the image corresponding tothe seat represented by the position information of the user terminal110.

A content mapper 1320 may determine information about content as aconnection service to be provided to the user terminal 110 based onposition information and time information (i.e., space information andtime information) acquired from the user terminal 110. Information aboutthe content may include information about an audio and/or informationabout graphics to be output from the user terminal 110 as playoutinformation. Also, the playout information may include informationassociated with an output time of the content at the user terminal 110.Information associated with the output time may include informationabout a time at which the content is output to the user terminal 110 andoffset time information. The server 130 may transmit the determinedplayout information to the user terminal 110.

A layout user interface (UI) 1330 may provide an interface or a userinterface used for functions performed by components, for example, thedraw screen mapper 1310, the content mapper 1320, the layout UI 1330,and the layout DB 1340, of the server 130. The components, for example,the draw screen mapper 1310, the content mapper 1320, the layout UI1330, and the layout DB 1340, of the server 130 may be components of theconnection service provider 282.

The user terminal 110 may receive the playout information from theserver 130 and may output content corresponding to the connectionservice based on the received playout information.

A method of determining content to be output to the user terminal 110based on space information and time information acquired from the userterminal 110 and outputting the determined content is further describedwith reference to FIG. 14.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 12 may apply to FIG. 13 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method ofproviding a connection service from a connection service providingserver to a user terminal based on space information and timeinformation acquired from the user terminal according to an exampleembodiment.

The method of providing the connection service to the user terminal 110of FIG. 13 is further described with reference to operations 1405 to1490 of FIG. 14.

Referring to FIG. 14, in operation 1405, the user terminal 110 mayacquire time information and position information associated with theuser terminal 110. The time information associated with the userterminal 110 may include information about a GPS time and a local timeof the user terminal 110 at which the corresponding time information isacquired. The local time may be a time at which correspondinginformation is output to the user terminal 110. The GPS time may be atime at which corresponding information is acquired using a GPS moduleincluded in the user terminal 110 (or a time acquired from an outside).For example, the time information associated with the user terminal 110may represent a difference between the local time and the GPS time.

In operation 1420, the user terminal 110 may transmit the acquired timeinformation and position information to the server 130 that provides aconnection service. Meanwhile, the server 130 may receive timeinformation and position information associated with each correspondingterminal from each of user terminals belonging to a group.

In operation 1410, the server 130 may acquire an image (a draw image)associated with a group connection place from the layout DB 1340. Theserver 130 may acquire seat information of a corresponding place fromthe layout DB 1340 or may extract the seat information from the acquiredimage.

In operation 1430, the server 130 may map the position informationreceived from the user terminal 110 to the acquired or extracted drawimage. That is, the server 130 may map the user terminal 110 at aposition corresponding to position information of the user terminal 110in the draw image. Although not illustrated, the server 130 may providethe draw image to which the user terminal 110 (or, additionally anotheruser terminal belonging to the group) is mapped to the user terminal 110(or each of at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to thegroup). Through this, the user of the user terminal 110 may verify aposition of the user, for example, a seat position or a position ofanother user belonging to the group.

In operation 1440, the server 130 may determine information aboutcontent to be output from user terminals belonging to the group andinformation about an output time of the content based on the receivedposition information and time information.

The server 130 may determine information about content to be output fromeach corresponding user terminal based on position information receivedfrom each of the user terminals (of at least a portion of the userterminals) belonging to the group and may determine offset timeinformation associated with each of the user terminals based on thereceived time information. Also, the server 130 may determine an outputtime at which corresponding content is output from each correspondinguser terminal based on the received position information and/or timeinformation and the content to be output from each corresponding userterminal.

For example, the server 130 may determine a portion (graphics) of a cardsection to be output to the user terminal 110 based on the positioninformation of the user terminal 110. Alternatively, the server 130 maydetermine a cheering text and audio to be output to the user terminal110 based on the position information of the user terminal 110 (e.g.,grandstand of a cheering team where the user terminal 110 is present).

The information associated with the output time may include the outputtime at which the content is to be output and offset time information.The offset time information associated with each of the user terminalsbelonging to the group may be calculated based on time informationassociated with a corresponding user terminal, for example, a differencebetween a GPS time and a local time represented by the time informationof the corresponding user terminal.

Alternatively, information associated with the output time may includethe output time at which the content is to be output. In this case, theoffset time information may be calculated and determined by the userterminal 110.

In operation 1450, the server 130 may transmit information about thedetermined content and information about the output time to at least aportion of (or each of) the user terminals belonging to the group.Therefore, the user terminal 110 may receive information about thecontent and information about the output time of the content from theserver 130.

The user terminal 110 may output the content at the time determinedbased on the received information about the output time. A method ofoutputting the content from the user terminal 110 is further describedwith reference to operations 1460 to 1490.

In operation 1460, the user terminal 110 may determine whether thecontent is present in the user terminal 110 based on the receivedinformation about the content. That is, in operation 1490, the userterminal 110 may retrieve the content from the user terminal 110 and mayoutput the content. For example, the user terminal 110 may determinewhether the content is present in a local content list of the userterminal 110.

In operation 1470, if the content is absent in the user terminal 110,the user terminal 110 may request the server 130 for the content. Inoperation 1490, the user terminal 110 may receive the requested contentfrom the server 130 and may output the content.

Alternatively, although the content is absent in the user terminal 110,the content may be generated by the user terminal 110. In this case, theuser terminal 110 may generate and output the content. The contentcapable of being generated by the user terminal 110 may be, for example,a text, graphics of a mono color, graphics in a desired pattern, asimple audio (buzzing sound), etc.

Meanwhile, the user terminal 110 may determine a time at which thecontent is to be output based on the local time of the user terminal110, a predetermined (or, alternatively, desired) output time includedin the received information about the output time, and offset timeinformation, and may output the content at the determined time. Thedetermined time may correspond to a corrected output time.

Further describing with reference to operations 1480 and 1490, the userterminal 110 may determine whether the corrected output time (acorrected playout time) has passed the local time of the user terminal110 in operation 1480. For example, the user terminal 110 may determinewhether a sum of the predetermined (or, alternatively, desired) outputtime included in the received information about the output time and theoffset time information is less than the local time of the user terminal110.

Unless the corrected output time (corrected playout time) passed thelocal time of the user terminal 110, the user terminal 110 may outputthe content at the local time of the user terminal 110 corresponding tothe corrected output time in operation 1490. For example, the userterminal 110 may output the content at the local time of the userterminal 110 corresponding to the sum of the output time and the offsettime information.

Alternatively, if the corrected output time (corrected playout time)passed the local time of the user terminal 110, the user terminal 110may adjust the output time of the content in operation 1485. That is, ifthe corrected output time (corrected playout time) passed the local timeof the user terminal 110, the user terminal 110 may shift the content byan elapse time in operation 1485 and may output the shifted content inoperation 1490. For example, if the local time of the user terminal 110passed a sum of the output time and the offset time information, theuser terminal 110 may shift the content by the elapse time and mayoutput the shifted content.

The offset time information may have a positive value or a negativevalue depending on whether the local time is faster or slower than theGPS time. For example, with the assumption that, at a time of acquiringthe time information, the local time of the user terminal 110 is12:00:00 and the GPS time is 12:00:03, the offset time informationdetermined by the server 130 may represent −3 seconds.

Here, if the server 130 determines that a time at which the content isto be output from the user terminal 110 is 12:05:00, the user terminal110 may output the content at the local time of 12:04:57 unless thelocal time of the user terminal 110 determined in operation 1480 passes12:04:57 (12:05:00+(−3 seconds)). If the local time of the user terminal110 in operation 1480 passes 12:04:57 (12:05:00−3 seconds) and the localtime of the user terminal 110 is 12:05:00, the user terminal 110 mayshift the content by 3 seconds and may output the shifted content. Forexample, if the content is audio content, the user terminal 110 may playthe audio content from a portion after 3 seconds. The similar method mayapply to a case if the content is video content or graphics content.

Through operations 1480 and 1490, contents output to user terminalsbelonging to the group may be substantially synchronized withoutsynchronizing the user terminals belonging to the group.

The output time determined by the server 130 may be based on the GPStime. Alternatively, as a modified example, the output time determinedby the server 130 may be based on a local time of the server 130.Alternatively, the offset time information may be determined by furtherconsidering a propagation speed of sound.

The aforementioned operations 1460 to 1490 may be included in operation340 of FIG. 3A.

Description related to technical features made above with reference toFIGS. 1 to 13 may apply to FIG. 14 and further description relatedthereto is omitted.

Although the example embodiments describe that a connection service isprovided to user terminals belonging to a group through a connectionservice providing server, it is provided as an example only.

For example, if simple content is provided through the connectionservice, such as a case in which the connection service simply outputsan audio to a user terminal or controls a screen output of the userterminal, the connection service may be initially forwarded to the userterminal through a trigger signal and then may be provided to at least aportion of (or each of) user terminals belonging to a group through aconnection request signal. Alternatively, through a concatenatedconnection between the user terminals by the connection request signalgenerated by the user terminal receiving the trigger signal, theconnection service may be provided to at least a portion of (or each of)the user terminals belonging to the group. That is, an inaudiblefrequency range through which the connection request signal istransmitted and received may be used to transmit and receive contentincluded in the connection service.

The systems and/or apparatuses described above may be implemented usinghardware components, software components, and/or a combination thereof.For example, the apparatuses and the components described herein may beimplemented using one or more general-purpose or special purposecomputers, such as, for example, a processor, a controller, anarithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, amicrocomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmablelogic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable ofresponding to and executing instructions in a defined manner. Theprocessing device may run an operating system (OS) and one or moresoftware applications that run on the OS. The processing device also mayaccess, store, manipulate, process, and create data in response toexecution of the software. For simplicity, the description of aprocessing device is used as singular; however, one skilled in the artwill be appreciated that a processing device may include multipleprocessing elements and/or multiple types of processing elements. Forexample, a processing device may include multiple processors or aprocessor and a controller. In addition, different processingconfigurations are possible, such as parallel processors, distributedprocessors, a cloud computing configuration, etc. Moreover, eachprocessor of the at least one processor may be a multi-core processor,but the example embodiments are not limited thereto.

The software may include a computer program, a piece of code, aninstruction, or some combination thereof, for independently orcollectively instructing or configuring the processing device to operateas desired. Software and/or data may be embodied permanently ortemporarily in any type of machine, component, physical equipment,virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device, or in a propagatedsignal wave capable of providing instructions or data to or beinginterpreted by the processing device. The software also may bedistributed over network coupled computer systems so that the softwareis stored and executed in a distributed fashion. The software and datamay be stored by one or more computer readable storage mediums.

The methods according to the above-described example embodiments may berecorded in non-transitory computer-readable record media includingprogram instructions to implement various operations of theabove-described example embodiments. The media may also include, aloneor in combination with the program instructions, data files, datastructures, and the like. The media may continuously store a programexecutable by a computer or may temporarily store or the program forexecution or download. Also, the media may be various types of recordingdevices or storage devices in which a single piece or a plurality ofpieces of hardware may be distributed over a network without beinglimited to a medium directly connected to a computer system. Examples ofthe media may include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks,and magnetic tapes; optical media such as CD-ROM discs and DVDs;magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices thatare specially configured to store and perform program instructions, suchas read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, andthe like. Examples of other media may include recording media andstorage media managed at Appstore that distributes applications or sitesand servers that supply and distribute various types of software.Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such asproduced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that maybe executed by the computer using an interpreter.

While this disclosure includes specific example embodiments, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various alterationsand modifications in form and details may be made in these exampleembodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimsand their equivalents. For example, suitable results may be achieved ifthe described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or ifcomponents in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit arecombined in a different manner, and/or replaced or supplemented by othercomponents or their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A connection service providing method comprising:outputting, by a first user terminal from among a plurality of userterminals, a connection request signal to at least one second userterminal among the plurality of user terminals through an inaudiblefrequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating a connectionbetween the plurality of user terminals; connecting the at least onesecond user terminal and the first user terminal as a group; andproviding a connection service associated with the group on the firstuser terminal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection requestsignal comprises: information used for the second user terminal tooutput a connection request signal to at least one third user terminalto connect the at least one third user terminal among the plurality ofuser terminals as the group.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thetrigger signal is, a signal that is acquired by the first user terminalin response to joining a first chatroom of a messenger program installedon the first user terminal, a signal that is received from an outsidethrough the inaudible frequency range, or data that is acquired byidentifying a first code.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein userterminals belonging to the group are synchronized based on timeinformation of the respective user terminals, and the connection serviceincludes content provided for at least a portion of the synchronizeduser terminals.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: acquiringposition information about a position of the first user terminal,wherein the connection service includes content associated with theposition information.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the positioninformation is acquired through the inaudible frequency range at theposition, or acquired by identifying a first code present at theposition.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the connection service isconfigured to provide a screen output corresponding to positioninformation about a position of each user terminal of at least a portionof the user terminals belonging to the group to said each user terminal,and the screen output of said each user terminal belonging to the groupconfigures a portion of a semantic entity that is formed by screenoutputs of a plurality of user terminals among the user terminalsbelonging to the group.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the connectionservice comprises: at least one content among the same text output, thesame audio output, and the same screen output provided to at least aportion of user terminals belonging to the group.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the connection service comprises: content including the sameaudio provided to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging tothe group, and wherein the audio is automatically output to at least aportion of the user terminals at a first timing.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein at least one of user terminals belonging to the group isdetermined as a winning terminal, and in response to the first userterminal being determined as the winning terminal, content including avideo or an image captured by the first user terminal is provided as theconnection service to at least a portion of the user terminals belongingto the group.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:transmitting the captured video or image to an external display deviceor a server that manages the external display device to display thecaptured video or image on the external display device.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein the connection service comprises: a composite imageor a composite video provided to at least a portion of user terminalsbelonging to the group, and wherein the composite video or the compositeimage is generated by composing images or videos captured by userterminals present at a first position among the user terminals belongingto the group.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: inresponse to the first user terminal being determined to be present atthe first position based on position information about a position of thefirst user terminal, transmitting an image or a video captured by thefirst user terminal to a server; and receiving content comprising thecomposite video or the composite image from the server.
 14. The methodof claim 12, wherein the composite video or the composite image iscontent to which a three-dimensional (3D) effect or a dynamic effect isapplied.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein, in response to a userterminal of a user having a personal relationship with a user of thefirst user terminal being included in user terminals belonging to thegroup, the connection service includes content including informationabout the user having the personal relationship.
 16. The method of claim1, further comprising: transmitting time information and positioninformation associated with the first user terminal to a server thatprovides the connection service, wherein the providing of the connectionservice includes, receiving information about first content andinformation about an output time of the first content from the server;and outputting the first content at a time that is determined based oninformation about the output time.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe outputting of the first content comprises: searching the first userterminal for the first content based on information about the firstcontent and outputting the first content, and in response to the firstcontent being absent in the first user terminal, requesting the serverfor the first content and outputting the first content received from theserver.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the time informationincludes information about a global positioning system (GPS) time and alocal time of the first user terminal at a time at which correspondingtime information is acquired, the information about the output timeincludes a first output time at which the first content is to be output,and the outputting of the first content includes outputting the firstcontent at a time that is determined based on offset time informationcalculated based on the local time of the first user terminal, the firstoutput time, and the time information.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein the offset time information is a difference between the GPS timeand the local time of the first user terminal at the time at which thetime information is acquired, and the outputting of the first contentincludes outputting the first content at the local time of the firstuser terminal corresponding to a corrected output time that isdetermined based on the first output time and the offset timeinformation.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the outputting of thefirst content includes shifting and outputting the first content by anelapse time if the local time of the user terminal passes the correctedoutput time.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readable record mediumstoring computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, causethe processor to perform the method of claim
 1. 22. A first electronicdevice comprising: processing circuitry configured to, output aconnection request signal to at least a second electronic device throughan inaudible frequency range based on a trigger signal for initiating aconnection between a plurality of electronic devices, the plurality ofdevices including the first and second electronic device, connect thesecond electronic device and the first electronic device as a group, andprovide a connection service associated with the group on the firstelectronic device.
 23. The first electronic device of claim 22, whereinthe processing circuitry is further configured to acquire positioninformation about a position of the first electronic device.
 24. Aconnection service providing method comprising: identifying, by aserver, that a first user terminal and a second user terminal areconnected as a group in response to a connection request signal that isoutput from the first user terminal to at least one second user terminalthrough an inaudible frequency range; and providing a connection serviceassociated with the group to at least a portion of user terminalsbelonging to the group.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:receiving time information and position information associated with eachuser terminal from each of the first user terminal and the second userterminal, wherein the providing of the connection service includes,determining information about first content to be output from userterminals belonging to the group and information about an output time atwhich the first content is to be output, based on the received positioninformation and time information; and transmitting the determinedinformation about the first content and information about the outputtime to at least a portion of the user terminals belonging to the group.26. The method of claim 25, wherein the determining comprises:determining information about content to be output from each of the userterminals belonging to the group based on position information receivedfrom each of one or more user terminals from among the user terminalsbelonging to the group; and determining offset time informationassociated with one or more user terminals from among the user terminalsbelonging to the group based on time information received from userterminals belonging to the group, the offset time information associatedwith each of the user terminals belonging to the group being adifference between a global position system (GPS) time and a local timeindicated by time information of each corresponding user terminal. 27.The method of claim 25, further comprising: mapping each receivedposition information to an image associated with a place where aconnection as the group is performed.
 28. A server that provides aconnection service, the server comprising: processing circuitryconfigured to, receive a signal from at least one user terminal among aplurality of user terminals, identify, based on the received signal,that a first user terminal and a second user terminal are connected as agroup based on a connection request signal that is output from the firstuser terminal to at least the second user terminal through an inaudiblefrequency range, and provide a connection service associated with thegroup to at least a portion of user terminals belonging to the group.